Cooking with the Kids #2 - Potato Octopus with Baked Fish Bites

This week it's Tom's turn to cook. He choose fish fingers and this brilliant idea for potatoes; an octopus! 

The fish we picked up from the fishmongers wasn't really the right shape for fingers (it wasn't a uniform thickness for one) but we applied the same technique and made fish bites instead. The kids liked it though saying they looked the the rocks the octopus lived in. So it's all good!

And Tom LOVED making the mash potato tentacles! 

---

Fish Bites

(or fish fingers)

Serves: 4-6 | Prep Time: 10 mins | Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

400-500g of firm white fish (skinned & filleted)

100g breadcrumbs

1 tsp oregano

pinch of cayenne

zest of 1 lemon

salt & pepper

1 egg

oil

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7 (200c / 400f)

Cut the fish into desired shapes

Mix the breadcrumbs, oregano, cayenne, zest & seasoning

Dip the fish in beaten egg and then in the breadcrumb mix

Spread the oil over a baking tray and arrange the fish on it

Bake in the oven for 20 min

---

Potato Octopus

Serves: 4-6 | Prep Time: 25 mins | Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

6 medium sizes potatoes

100 ml whole milk

50g butter

1 large tin of peas & carrots (or 200g fresh peas & 3 medium carrots)

Chorizo for decoration

Method

Peal potatoes and slice in half lengthwise, boil of approx 15 mins

Meanwhile cook the peas & carrots

Once to potatoes start to turn soft, drain and choose some pieces to use as octopus heads

Heat the milk & butter and add the remaining potatoes. Mash!

Place a "head" on each plate and use an icing bag with the largest round nozzle to pipe out the 8 tentacles.
Use a dab of mash to stick two chorizo eyes on the heads.

Drain the peas and carrots, use peas to decorate the tentacles as "suckers"

Serve with the remaining veg and the fish.